[China Refractory Materials Network]
In 2016, the economic operation of the building materials industry was generally in the mid-to-low operating range. Stable and improving. Preliminary judgment shows that the economic operation of the building materials industry throughout the year is in the “bottom” fluctuation stage of the downward cycle since 2015. However, as the external operating environment has not fundamentally improved, the pressure is still high, and the industry’s foundation for “stable growth” is still fragile.
The overall economic performance of the building materials industry in 2016
The building materials industry has successfully achieved the annual goal of “steady growth”. Under the combined effect of market demand and industry self-discipline, the building materials industry has generally achieved restorative growth, basically reaching the level of 2014. In May 2016, the growth rate of the main business income of building materials began to stabilize, and profits also turned from negative growth to positive growth. The main business income of the building materials industry above designated size for the whole year was 5.26 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%, and the total profit was 343.5 billion yuan. yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.7%. Among them, the total annual profit of the cement industry was 51.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 55.6%, and the main business income was 876.4 billion yuan, an increase of 1.2% over the previous year.
The main products of building materials have basically stabilized on the medium-low growth path. In 2016, the production and sales of main products in traditional industries such as cement and flat glass remained stable. Cement output was 2.4 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.5%. Flat glass output was 770 million weight boxes, an increase of 5.8%. Concrete and cement products, bricks and tiles, tempered glass, New building materials, fiberglass and other products still maintain relatively high growth. Stone and other building materials products also basically maintained steady growth.
The ex-factory price of building materials products has been steadily recovering. The average ex-factory price of building materials products bottomed out in March 2016 and has continued to rise steadily, reversing the downward trend for 24 consecutive months. The price in August was higher than the same period last year, but the annual average ex-factory price was still 1.4% lower than the previous year. The average ex-factory price of cement returned to the range of more than 300 yuan at the end of the year, a 20% increase for the whole year, but still 2.3% lower than the previous year’s price; the ex-factory price of flat glass also returned to more than 70 yuan per weight box, a year-on-year increase of 3.9%.
Fixed asset investment in the building materials industry increased slightly. In 2016, the growth rate of investment in fixed assets above designated size in the building materials industry turned from negative to positive in December. The investment in fixed assets above designated size was approximately 1.6 trillion yuan throughout the year, a slight increase of 1.0% year-on-year. Among them, the investment in the building materials non-metallic mineral mining and dressing industry increased by 1.5% over the previous year, and the investment in the non-metallic mineral products industry increased by 0.7% over the previous year.
Building materials exports fell sharply. While the overall international market is still relatively sluggish, affected by sharp exchange rate fluctuations and price declines, the export of building materials and non-metallic mineral commodities fell sharply in 2016. The major building materials export products all experienced “volume and price declines” to varying degrees. Throughout the year Total exports were US$31 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 19.0%.